GOOD STORIES
In GMP-regulated production environments, accurate technical documentation and reliable digital building information are essential for compliance, safe operations, patient safety, and efficient future projects.
Emendo supported a pharmaceutical customer with updating, consolidating, and restructuring technical documentation and Building Information Modelling (BIM) models that had become outdated following several facility modifications and rebuilds. Over time, not all drawings had been updated to reflect the current state of the facilities, and parts of the documentation had not been archived consistently according to the customer’s internal guidelines.
This created uncertainty for engineering, maintenance, validation, and production teams when using drawings for daily operations, troubleshooting, audits, change control, and future project planning.
The Challenge
The customer had many technical drawings that no longer fully reflected the actual facility layout and technical installations. Several changes had been made across the site, but the related drawing updates, revision handling, and archiving had not always followed a consistent process. In addition, building and discipline models evolved separately over time, creating challenges around coordination, data consistency, and maintaining a reliable digital representation of the facilities.
In a GMP environment, this can create unnecessary risk. Drawings are often used as the basis for maintenance, qualification, project design, and compliance-related activities. If documentation is outdated or difficult to trust, teams may need to spend additional time verifying information manually before decisions can be made.
This can lead to inefficient workflows, repeated clarification rounds, increased project uncertainty, and costly extra work caused by incorrect or incomplete information.
Our Approach
Emendo provided experienced on-site consultants to update technical drawings, manage revisions, and archive documentation in accordance with the customer’s internal guidelines, GMP expectations, and industry best practices.
The work was carried out in close collaboration with the customer’s engineering, maintenance, validation, and production teams. Our consultants reviewed and updated the relevant drawing, including restructuring and consolidating BIM models across multiple buildings and technical disciplines to establish a coordinated and reliable digital facility representation, while also supporting correct revision control and document archiving in the customer’s systems.
As part of the process, Emendo performed practical field verification using a “go-look-see” approach. By reviewing rooms, installations, and technical systems on site, our consultants verified that what was shown in the drawings matched the actual facility conditions. This helped identify discrepancies and ensured that updates were based on verified information rather than assumptions or outdated revisions. In addition, linking architectural, mechanical, electrical, and process disciplines within a coordinated BIM environment helped identify inconsistencies and potential clashes between systems before they created downstream project or operational issues.
Emendo helped establish a coordinated digital model structure designed to make future updates easier and more reliable. The structure made it simpler to identify and update all relevant drawings when changes were made to underlying BIM objects, layouts, and linked documentation — for example, if a wall was moved, a room layout changed, or a technical installation was affected.
This created a more robust and scalable documentation setup, reducing the risk that related drawings would be missed during future updates. The updated model structure also improved interoperability by enabling more reliable IFC-based file exchange and supporting downstream use in digital collaboration platforms such as Dalux, where accurate BIM data and coordinated models are essential.
Close Collaboration
A key part of the approach was close collaboration with the customer’s internal specialists. In many cases, Emendo’s consultants worked directly with engineering, maintenance, and production teams to update drawings in real time.
By aligning technical knowledge and operational insight directly during the process, critical details were captured early and accurately. This significantly reduced review cycles, minimized rework, and created a more efficient path to finalized documentation.
This way of working also reduced the burden on the customer’s internal specialists. Instead of spending time on repeated reviews, corrections, and follow-up comments, key stakeholders could provide their input directly during the update process, supporting a more right-first-time result.
Through the collaboration, the customer gained a more accurate and structured technical documentation foundation. Drawings were updated, revisions were controlled, and documentation was archived in accordance with the customer’s internal processes.
Beyond supporting drawing accuracy, the updated BIM environment created a scalable digital foundation for future facility modifications, coordination workflows, and data-driven collaboration across engineering and operations.
Future projects can now start from a more reliable baseline, reducing uncertainty during planning, design, and execution.
Reliable documentation also helps reduce project costs by minimizing extra work caused by incorrect drawings, outdated revisions, or inaccurate technical information. This lowers the risk of design conflicts, misunderstandings, rework, and costly on-site corrections. The coordinated models and structured BIM data also improved the customer’s ability to use digital platforms for visualization, coordination, maintenance planning, and future project execution.
By combining technical understanding, practical field verification, and close customer collaboration, Emendo helped the customer turn technical documentation into a reliable foundation for GMP compliance, patient safety, daily operations, and future facility development.
Outdated or unreliable technical documentation can create uncertainty, increase project costs, and add unnecessary risk in GMP-regulated environments.
Emendo helps customers establish technical documentation they can trust — supporting compliance, patient safety, efficient operations, and more predictable future projects.
